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Stupid Americans don’t know Fourth of July history: Ed O'Connor

Getty Images/Blend Images

Posted
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 2:44 pm

Ed O'Connor

A belated Happy July 4th holiday! Of course, all you history buffs know the reason for the celebration and day off, right? Well, I will not let the cat out of the bag in case you are a little fuzzy about this holiday.

If you are not quite sure, check this YouTube video and it will help jog your memory: tinyurl.com/y95fs6kc.

It is hard to believe that Americans are so stupid. I take that back. It is easy to believe, especially the loony, left-coast libtards.

We decided on a little pre-July Fourth getaway for Olga’s birthday. For those of you that don’t know, Olga was born in Russia. So, we took a jaunt to the beach for a week to a top-rated bed-and-breakfast, Villa de Los Suenos, located in the small fishing village of La Entrada, Ecuador.

Transportation was in a 15-passenger Volkswagen van with 10 other gringos. The trip took almost seven hours covering 200 miles from Cuenca, over the Andes at 12,000 feet, then to the coast.

The three-story, beach-front facility with a spiral staircase was beautiful and the grounds immaculately groomed. The owners of the villa are an American couple.

They were great and treated us like family. They had a welcome dinner for the group and a surprise birthday cake for Olga.

If you have been to any of the East Coast shore points and tried walking the beach, you know that it is almost impossible to navigate because of the mass of humanity. We walked 8 miles on the beach and passed only about 10 people on the hike.

Many small fishing towns line the coast, and we enjoyed fresh seafood during our stay served in open air restaurants on the beach. We experienced one problem — the weather. It was warm, humid, overcast and rainy during our stay. We did not see the sun in five days.

In lieu of frolicking in the Pacific, we went on some interesting side trips. We had never been to the coastal city of Salinas; hence we chose this day trip. We saw many interesting places along the way including a church constructed in the 1700s of wood — almost unheard of due to termites and fire. We stood on the farthest western point of Ecuador, a peninsula that juts into the Pacific Ocean.

Here comes the president

Ecuador finally has a new president. The loser conceded the day before the inauguration. It didn’t take him long to catch on.

I had mentioned in past ramblings that there is a $232 million light rail system being built in Cuenca. Construction began in 2013 and it was to be completed and running in 2016. The main purpose was to eliminate pollution in center city. It is $35 million over budget and the latest estimated time frame for completion and operation is 2018.

All the while the heart of the city has been torn up. Many, many businesses are closed, and traffic is a nightmare. The thing is, this system known as the “tranvia” does not access the entire city. When (if?) it is completed, I would have to walk 25 minutes to reach it.

Right now, maintenance must be performed on track that was laid three years ago and never used. The big polluters in the city are the diesel busses. The city should have used all those millions to purchase a fleet of non-polluting propane and/or electric busses that could have served the entire municipality. As usual, if it absolutely, positively must be screwed up — have government do it.

Random thoughts

Just when you thought all the squirrels were in the woods — there is an American woman here in Cuenca who claims she can communicate with dead dogs. There are more gringo nuts here than in a Planters Peanut factory.

What’s going on in your slice of Wolfsylvania? I see that Three Mile Island will be closing in 2019. I remember when it was being built. One of the catch phrases to promote the construction of TMI was that the electricity would be “too cheap to meter.” How did that work out?

In 1973, I was working in Elizabethtown for $100 weekly — my take-home pay was $88.68. To supplement my income, I was tending bar part-time for $2.50 per hour. Men who were in construction at the island would come in the hotel/bar where I worked and show me their paychecks. I was astounded! More than $1,300, and that was take-home.

According to figures that I have seen, the TMI yearly payroll is $60 million and 675 personnel are employed. Simple division shows that the average wage is $88,888 yearly. Not bad work if one can get it.

Maybe there should be a fundraiser or concert to help these poor souls. We could call it “Hands Across The Reactor.”

Pennsylvania keeps being honored: It is No. 2 for having the most cities with the most abandoned homes, and No. 13 for having the highest property taxes in the nation.

Filthydelphia International Airport is the third-most-hated airport in the USA. On a brighter note: Knoebels Amusement Resort was rated as the fourth-best small-town theme park in America.

When will Steve Reed, Barbara Hafer and Kathleen Kane (all Democrats) be hosting the “Honesty And Ethics In Government” workshop? I don’t want to miss it.

I see that Bon Appetit magazine named South Philly Barbacoa as the sixth best new restaurant in the United States for 2016. It is owned by an illegal Mexican immigrant (undocumented Dumbocrat).

We need an investigation here in Cuenca! This past weekend there was a Russian Day in one of the large parks highlighting Russian culture. I’ll bet the Russians hacked into the city computers. I even found a Russian in my bed!

Until later from beautiful Cuenca ... Eddy the Expat

Ed O’Connor, a former resident of Middletown and Lower Swatara Township, is an expatriate living in Cuenca, Ecuador.